Autism and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Unmasking the ‘Snake Oil’ Claims

The US Food and Drug Administration has published a warning for parents to beware of false or misleading claims about HBOT for treating autism.

I know a family who purchased a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for their home to treat their son with autism.

It was expensive. A cheap one costs about $10,000, and some go as high as $40,000. Desperate parents are easily swayed into purchasing the more expensive models.

They did their research, which meant they went to Google and absorbed the various snake oil sales pitches. When they saw doctors who touted scientific studies backing their dubious claims, they were convinced the therapy had promise.

It did nothing.

At first, the imagined improvements strengthened their belief that they had found the cure. Their son’s health appeared better; they noticed more eye contact, and they believed he was on the mend.

Confirmation bias works that way.

They told their friends and other parents about their great discovery and their hopes for a “cure” to their son’s autism.